Improvement in strap-hinge attachments



a. FREEMAN.

STRAP-HINGE ATTACHMENT.

Patented Dec. 7,1875

Noll-70,843.

N PETERS. FHOTOJJTHOGHAPMER. WASHINGYGN n C UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIcn.

HIRAM FREEMAN, OF PARKERS LANDING, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO JOHN EATON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN STRAP-HINGE ATTACHMENTS.

Specification forming p fort of Letters Patent No. 170,843, dated December 7, 1875; application filed November 10, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HIRAM FREEMAN, of Parkers Landing, in the county of Armstrong and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Attachments and Brace- Plates for Strap-Hinges; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention consists in an improvement in attachments and brace-plates for straphinges, whereby I am enabled to attach such hinges much more firmly than they have hith erto been attached, and to place the screws or nails which ultimately receive and bear the weight of the door, lid, or gate, transmitted through the strapplate and my improved brace-plate in such a way as to decrease the strain upon them and upon the wood or other material at and near the point where the said screws are inserted therein, and more uniformly distribute the strain upon the screws.

As the strap-plates of straphinges are ordinarily attached, it is necessary, in order to avoid cutting away too much of the metal at any point, to distribute the countersunk holes which receive the said screws or nails in such a way that only a very few of them are placed near the hinges which connect the straps. Therefore, those screws or nails nearest the hinges are subjected to a fnuch greater strain than the others, which, after a short lapse of time, ordinarily causes the screws or nails nearest the hinges to partially crush the material in which they are inserted, perhaps to loosen.

and drop out, and in nearly all cases to permit the sagging of the door, gate, or lid supported by said strap-hinges.

As hitherto constructed, strap-hinges can be relied upon to support heavy doors, gates, or lids firmly only when the strap-plates of the said strap -hinges are made large and strong, so as to admit of the insertion of many small screws, or of a less number of large and strong screws. I

By the use of my improved attachment and brace-plate I am enabled to make a straphinge that shall firmly and securely support a given weight with much less metal and with fewer or smaller and less expensive screws.

In thedrawing, Figure 1 is afront view of a strap-hinge with my improved braceor ornamental form may be adopted. In the plate thus formed may be cast, punched, or drilled as many holes, h, countersunk or otherwise, as may be required for the attachment of the plate. The brace-plate 0 is also formed with an offset, as shown at 0 0 0 0, to allow it to be superimposed upon the-strap-plate A of the strap-hinge, and at the same time to rest with as nearly a uniform pressure as possible upon both the said strap-plate A and the surface of the door, lid, or gate, to wiliich the said strap-plate is bolted, nailed, or screwed.

Thelower shoulder 8, formed by the ofl'set, abuts closely against the under edge of the strap-plate A, as shown in Fig. 3, and as close as possible to the hinge b, .which connects the two strap pI-ates. Therefore the said strap-plates cannot sag without causing all the screws inserted through the brace-plate O to yield in the body of the material into which they are inserted, the said screws all acting in conjunction and equally to support the strap-plate of the hinge.

The strap-plate A of the strap-hinge may,

if desired, pass through a slit in the braceplate 0, in which modification of my improvement both the strap-plate and that portion of the brace'plate superimposed upon the strapplate will require to be ofl'set.

I claim- The combination, with the strap-plates A A of the hinge, ot' the brace-plates U C, offset on the edges of the strap-plates, and serving as attachments and braces to the hinge, substantially as herein described.

- H. FREEMAN.

Witnesses:

BENJAMIN W. HOFFMAN, MICHAEL RYAN. 

